The firearms of the Ming Dynasty were quite developed, not only with hand-held firearms and birds, but also with artillery loaded with solid shells, and even some explosive balls, which were the so-called "flowering shells". These weapons were widely equipped in the army, and the proportion of firearms accounted for one-tenth in the early Ming Dynasty, and one-third during the Tumubao Incident. After inspecting the Firearms Bureau, Zhu Yunwen ordered the Firearms Bureau to be relocated to the Qinhuai River, which is rich in hydraulic resources, and used hydraulic equipment to grind gunpowder, which greatly improved the production efficiency and quality of gunpowder. It is required to concentrate the study of firearms in the following directions: arquebuses, thrown grenades, tiger squat cannons used by infantry, and siege and defensive artillery.

The test ground of the Firearms Bureau is located outside the city, after the establishment of martial arts, Zhu Yunwen relocated the test site to the foot of Meihua Mountain, about 5 miles away from martial arts, almost every firearms experiment, Zhu Yunwen will let martial arts students watch, but at present, there are not many results that can be obtained.

In the afternoon of this day, Zhu Yunwen took Zhuo Jing, Liu Zhen, Yuan Zhen, Yuan Jing and other guards to the firearms test site, there were many people at the scene, and it was very lively, the technicians of the Firearms Bureau and the Institute of Engineering were fiddling with the ten tiger squat guns to be tested, the officials of the martial arts were around and pointed, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry, such as Shangshu Yan Zhenzhi, were also waiting on the side. After Zhu Yunwen greeted everyone and saw the salute, he ran to the tiger squatting cannon, looked left and right, and it looked similar to what he knew, that is, a big iron pipe with an iron hoop on the outside, and two iron claws in front of it as support, so he nodded, and asked Wang Quan next to him and Lang Zhong Qian Canghuo of the Firearms Bureau: "How far is this range?" How powerful? ”

Qian Canghuo said: "Back to Your Highness, the range of this tiger squat cannon is about one hundred and eighty zhang, each charge is one catty, and then loaded with lead bullets or stones, and then pressed on a large stone bullet or large lead bullet, the sound is like a thunderbolt, within a hundred steps, people and animals are injured." ”

Zhu Yunwen nodded with satisfaction and said, "Then let's start the experiment." ”

"Okay, please stand back with Your Highness and your lordships."

Zhu Yunwen and others retreated to the back of a wall ten steps away, took out the binoculars to look at the test ahead, after a while, under Wang Quan's order, a lighter craftsman slowly walked to a tiger squat cannon with a torch, after lighting the fire, desperately ran to the side, about five breaths, they heard an earth-shattering loud noise, the ears of Zhu Yunwen and others were buzzing, because of the use of black powder, the smoke and dust were too big, and it took a while to see the tragic situation in the field: except for the scarecrow on the edge who survived, Almost all of the scarecrows were "damaged", and the armor of the scarecrow directly in front of them was pierced. After listening to the statistical results, Zhu Yunwen smiled and let him continue the experiment.

In the end, the test effect was ideal, except for a dumb fire, the other performances were relatively good, and basically achieved either death or injury within 100 steps. Then Zhu Yunwen ordered a fatigue test, and selected a tiger squat cannon, and kept testing it, and when it was about 100 cannons, there was a phenomenon of exploding. Zhu Yunwen was very satisfied with the overall effect, and rewarded each of the craftsmen of the Firearms Bureau and the Engineering College with one hundred taels of silver on the spot, and everyone was overjoyed.

Then Zhu Yunwen returned to Wuxue and called a meeting of the officials present, including Qian Canghuo and Wang Quan, to discuss the results of this experiment. At the meeting, Tie Canghuo concluded: "Your Highness, my lords, this tiger squat cannon is indeed very powerful, the weight is about thirty-six catties, and it is also very convenient to carry, a carriage can carry more than ten tiger squat cannons, we have done experiments, if the interval is ten meters, put ten guns, it can cover an area of one hundred steps in front, whether it is infantry or cavalry, it is impossible to rush through this line of defense." But the firing speed is not fast, only about five rounds can be fired in a quarter of an hour, and it needs to be cooled down in the middle, and it needs to be fixed with a large iron nail before firing the cannon, otherwise it will jump. Then there is the easy to blow up the bore, which requires the use of fine iron, and then we studied it and added an iron hoop to make it much better. ”

Zhu Yunwen smiled and said, "Tie Langzhong, you guys are doing a good job, do you still have any questions?" ”

Fu Youde, who usually doesn't speak, suddenly asked, "How much can you produce this thing in a month?" ”

"At present, the strength of the Firearms Bureau can produce 20 Tiger Squat Cannons, and if the manpower is increased, the output can also be increased."

"Okay, no problem."

After a while of discussion, the officials of the Ministry of Engineering and the Institute of Engineering retired.

Zhu Yunwen glanced at the people present and said with a smile: "General Fu has been on the battlefield for a long time, can you comment on it, how is this tiger squat cannon?" ”

Fu Youde's face was not very good, and he said: "Your Highness, my Great Ming Fire Weapon is much more developed than Gu Yuan, but this Tiger Squat Cannon is a bit beyond the imagination of the last general, if it is used properly, the infantry can also defeat the cavalry on the plain, and it can also be used for foot combat and water combat." ”

Ping An is about thirty years old, tall, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and is a standard big man. His face was not very good-looking, and he said: "Your Highness, after seeing this tiger squat cannon, the last general feels that his martial arts have been practiced in vain." But fortunately, we have such a sharp weapon, otherwise it is hard to imagine what the consequences would be. ”

Sheng Yong is much shorter than Ping'an, with thin eyebrows and fine eyes, and he speaks slowly, and said: "Your Highness, the last general likes firearms very much, this tiger squat cannon is really good, I hope His Royal Highness can allocate some to the last general in the army, and set up this tiger squat cannon on the Great Wall, how energetic." ”

Chen Zhen also said: "Your Highness, I have been in Datong for a long time, and I often deal with Hulu, if this thing can be deployed to Datong, our Ming Dynasty can better deter Hulu." ”

Zhu Yunwen looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Rank General, this tiger squat cannon can't fight against the cavalry, because its firing and loading speed is too slow, if it can shoot about twenty rounds in a quarter of an hour, it can be said to be against the cavalry." The cavalry could completely bypass the Tiger Squat cannon and attack from the flanks and rear. So Lone hopes that the arquebus can be equipped with troops as soon as possible, but unfortunately the production is still too low, and there are some problems that need to be solved. ”

Everyone glanced at each other, feeling that His Highness was talking nonsense, and anyone who was doing this tiger squat cannon could see it, but its power was real.

Sheng Yong said: "Your Highness, can this tiger squat cannon equip the troops?" ”

"Not yet, the problem of exploding the chamber has not been solved yet, and you didn't see it during the test? The craftsmen who lit the fire ran desperately after lighting the fire, because they had killed several people in the bombing, and now they dare not equip it to the army, otherwise no soldier would dare to light the fire, but no. ”

Everyone couldn't help but sigh, it's a pity.

Zhu Yunwen looked at everyone's expressions, and didn't say anything on the surface, but in fact, he was more anxious than anyone else, he didn't know what was going on recently, and there was always a sense of urgency, but a long time ago, his father in his previous life told him: "You must remember at all times that you are an ordinary person, which means that objective laws will happen to you without exception, you must accept this fact, otherwise you will easily fall into delusion, and then go to destruction." These are the words that his father said to himself when he heard about the plight of the people of Tohoku and was angry and bitter. He said to himself that he had to face the reality and that he could only wait except to urge and motivate the craftsmen.

Zhu Yunwen called Zhuo Jing, Fu Youde, Sheng Yong, Ping'an, and Chen Zhen to the map, told them about the idea of preparing to build Suiyuan City, and then sat down to hear their opinions.

Fu Youde and others, as soldiers, were a little excited after listening to Zhu Yunwen's idea, their views were similar to Xu Huizu's, they all thought that this could effectively control the Monan grassland and curb the invasion and harassment of Mongolia, but at the same time, they also had the same worries, they had to make a feint in other directions of the border fortress to attract the attention of Mongolia, and then build a successful city, if it attracted the attention of Mongolia, it would be very troublesome to harass it twice in three days.

Chen Zhen, as the commander of Datongwei, asked Zhu Yunwen to return to Datong and participate in the operation. Ping'an and Sheng Yong also asked for battle, Zhu Yunwen smiled and said: "Three generals, it's still early to build the city, please be calm and don't be impatient, Rong Gu will think about it." ”

The three of them had no choice but to agree and wait for Zhu Yunwen's order, while Fu Youde was thoughtful.

After returning to Duanben Palace, Zhuo Jing asked Zhu Yunwen very seriously: "Your Highness, who proposed this plan?" ”

"It was Lone who proposed it, and Lone thinks this plan is very good."

"Your Highness, this plan is very beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, but in this sensitive period, Wei Gong believes that something may happen."

"What's going on?"